Be My Escape
by theDANNIsaur
Summary: Post 'Grilled Cheesus': Kurt Hummel had no idea that a chance meeting with a fourteen-year-old girl in a hospital cafeteria would change his life forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Be My Escape (1/?)

**Rating: ** T for later chapters

**Disclaimer: **I am not fortunate enough to own_ Glee._

**Author's Note: ** I didn't actually plan to put this up until I had finished it. I am incredibly busy with exams right now so I don't have that much time for writing this which means updates will be far and few until June. However, I have decided to put the first chapter up so I can see the response that it gets and decide if I should continue it.

He was going to be okay.

Everything was going to be okay again.

Kurt Hummel clasped his hands together and took another look through the window to the hospital room where his father was, finally awake. He was surrounded by doctors and nurses, some with clipboards, others with medicine. Burt looked somewhat uncomfortable with all the attention but Kurt knew that he was thankful to be awake.

A gentle hand rested on the shoulders of the teenage boy and he turned around to see who it was, coming face to face with Carole and Finn. He gave each of them a tired yet happy smile.

Wordlessly, Carole enveloped him in a hug. "I'm so glad he's alright," she whispered, rubbing Kurt's back a little.

He returned the hug and nodded gently. "Me too."

When Carole let him go, Finn stood in front of him, looking a little awkward, not sure if a hug would be appropriate or not. Eventually, he gave Kurt a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Hey, man," he smiled. Kurt returned the greeting with a quiet 'hi'.

"Honey, you look exhausted," Carole said. "Why don't you go get some coffee or something?"

Kurt hesitated. He really was in dire need of caffeine but he looked through the window once again, making sure his dad was alright. Sensing what he was thinking, Carole's hand slipped into his own.

"Don't worry about your Dad," she said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "He isn't going anywhere. I'll take care of him. Go with Finn."

Reluctantly Kurt nodded and let go of Carole's hand and began walking to the cafeteria with Finn, falling into step beside him.

"Y'know," the older, much taller, boy spoke up. "Everyone's real glad that your dad's alright. I called Rachel to let her know he woke up and so, of course, she told everyone else in glee club."

A smirk appeared on Kurt's face. Typical Rachel.

The rest of their walk went by in a comfortable silence, none of them speaking, both a little tired after the events of the past few days. However, they were dealing with the overwhelming relief that they felt now that they knew Burt was on the road to recovery.

Upon reaching the cafeteria, Finn began shuffling nervously. "Hey, uh, I gotta go to the bathroom. Like, now... Could you just get me a soda or something?" he asked Kurt, bouncing up and down a little.

Kurt let out a short laugh. "Sure," he said. "Now hurry up before we have a spillage."

"A spillage?" A confused look was now present on Finn's face.

"Bathroom. Go. Now."

And that was all Finn needed as he fled to look for a restroom. Kurt walked up to the counter and ordered a Coke for Finn and a nonfat mocha for himself. He already had a feeling that the coffee in the hospital wouldn't be the best but he could deal with it. He just needed _something_ to keep him awake.

His phone began vibrating in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a text from Mercedes, telling him how happy she was that his dad was awake. With one hand, he typed out a reply, which was proving to be quite difficult as he grabbed Finn's Coke and his coffee and slid them onto a tray.

Once his reply to Mercedes had been sent, he picked up the tray with both hands and walked over to a nearby empty table.

As soon as he sat down, he immediately grabbed his coffee cup, desperate to get some form of energy boost.

He took a sip of the coffee and his face screwed up in disgust. What was this? It was so _sweet_ and horrible and—

"Excuse me?"

A tapping on Kurt shoulder caused him to turn around, forcing him to swallow the vile liquid in his mouth.

Facing him was a young girl, about fourteen years old, her hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore a black hoodie and skinny jeans with matching black Converse. The only colour she had about her was an over-the-shoulder bag she wore that was laden with different colourful keyrings. There must have been about twenty or something. Amongst them, Kurt could pick out a Bugs Bunny one, a soccer ball and—was that a picture or something?

He looked up at the girl's face; her own blue eyes were staring down at him. She was pretty, but a little bit plain. She wore no make-up and her eyes looked tired, just like Kurt felt. However, there was an inquisitive look in them.

"Yes?" he asked her.

She nervously held out a coffee cup. "You took my coffee by mistake," she explained. "That's my latte and this is your..."

"Mocha," he finished for her.

"Yeah," she smiled sheepishly.

Well, that explained things. He must have been so distracted by texting Mercedes back that he had picked up the wrong order by mistake. That was why he was disgusted with the drink he now held. Well, that was rather embarrassing...

He swapped the coffee cups with the girl and raised an eyebrow. "Just a question..."

She tilted her head to the side, curiously, in what Kurt would have described as an adorable manner.

"How do you _drink_ that?" he asked her, eyeing the latte with disdain.

An amused smile played on her lips. "You don't like caramel lattes?"

Caramel? That would be the reason for why it was so sickly.

He shook his head a little. "How can you even stomach that?"

She giggled in response, although the noise was short-lived and sounded almost hollow and empty.

Kurt raised the cup with his own order in it and took a sip, revelling in the way the warm liquid ran down his throat. It wasn't too bad for a hospital drink.

"You're Kurt Hummel, aren't you?" the girl piped up.

That got his attention.

"Um, yes. How did you know?" he enquired, setting his coffee cup down on the table.

Without any invitation, the girl walked around Kurt and seated herself down on the chair across from him. He didn't really mind. After all, the girl seemed harmless and he was intrigued as to why she knew his name.

"My brother is on the same ward as your dad," she explained. "I've seen you around."

Oh, that was a surprise. Kurt had never seen the girl before. Mind you, he had been busy focusing on other things like his father and the persistence of his fellow glee club members to pray and preach and whatnot.

"Ah, I see. Well, yes, I am indeed Kurt Hummel," he said. "It's nice to meet you..."

It was the perfect prompt to find out the girl's name.

She reached her hand over the table and he took it in his, giving it a quick shake. "I'm Joey Anderson," she told him.

The name suited her, Kurt noted. She didn't look like a typical girl, her outfit was rather laidback and tomboyish. However, as much as Kurt wanted to reprimand her for her lack of style, he remembered that they were in a hospital and she had just told him that her brother was in the same ward as her dad. He was tempted to ask why but decided it was best not to pry.

"I'm really happy that your dad woke up," she said, smiling kindly at him after a drink of her coffee.

He returned the smile. This kid was sweet. "Thanks," he replied. "I'm pretty glad myself."

"I think my brother will wake up soon too..." she trailed off absent-mindedly, as if the comment was made only for her to hear.

Kurt felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. He knew what it was like, not knowing if a loved one would reopen their eyes again. He himself had experienced it up until only a short while ago. "What's your brother's name?" he asked, softly.

"Blaine."

Hmm, that was an unusual name. Kurt had never met anyone else called Bla—

"Kurt!"

At his name being called, the boy turned to see Finn lumbering over to him and Joey and plonking himself down beside Kurt, beginning to babble on about how the dryers in the bathroom made him feel like he had superpowers when he stopped abruptly, noticing they had company.

"Hi..." he began, uncertainly.

Joey smiled at him, giving him a small half-wave.

"Finn, this is Joey," he introduced them. "Her brother is in the same ward as my dad." He attempted to caution Finn with his eyes, silently begging him not to ask for details. No such luck.

"What's your brother in for?" he asked, bluntly.

Kurt could have slapped his friend for his lack of tact.

Although, Kurt caught the flicker of hesitation in Joey's eyes, she gave Finn a small smile. "He fell down a flight of stairs," she said, sadly.

Both Kurt and Finn's eyes widened and immediately Joey bit her lip, looking like she regretted telling them. A crease appeared in Kurt's forehead and he leaned forwards slightly, dropping his voice.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Joey," he told her, and was answered by a half-hearted shrug.

"Is he okay?" Finn asked around the mouth of his bottle of Coke.

"Finn!" Kurt hissed. Clearly Joey's brother was not okay after taking a tumble down a flight of stairs. Boy, he really needed to help Finn develop some form of verbal filter.

"What?" a confused Finn replied, but upon seeing the glare Kurt was giving hum, he understood and winced, turning to Joey with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, I mean, I didn't know..."

"It's okay," the younger girl reassured him. She slipped her bag over her shoulder and rested it on top of the table. "He's in a coma right now. He's stayed in the same condition for about a week now." She clasped her hands tightly together, staring down at the table so neither of the boys in front of her could see her expression.

An uncomfortable silence crept over the three of them. Finn was tempted to say something like 'I'm sure he'll be okay' but he figured that Kurt would probably tell him off so, instead, he sat up and cleared his throat. "Want a cookie?"

Joey looked up and smiled at him, despite the tears gathering in her eyes. She giggled. "I'd love one."

Grinning, Finn jumped up. "Great, I'll go get you one. Kurt?"

"No thanks," Kurt said, with a wave of his hand. He wasn't sure that his stomach would be able to handle a cookie after all the events of the day.

When Finn left, Kurt turned back to Joey and tilted his head to the side. "Sorry about Finn. He has Foot in Mouth Syndrome, we're trying to cure it."

Joey shook her head. "It's alright. I often suffer from it too," she stated, then unclasped her hands, taking another drink of her latte. "Is he your boyfriend?"

The question surprised Kurt. Normally, such a question would be asked with tones of sarcasm or malice in the voice of the asker, but with Joey, she merely sounded curious. Her question seemed absolutely genuine and it surprised him. She seemed like she was perfectly okay with the idea of two males in a relationship.

Joey misinterpreted his silence as one of horror and immediately began apologising. "Oh gosh, there I go, foot in mouth. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump to conclusions. It's not that you look... You know... Ack, I'm so sorry—"

"Joey!" Kurt cut her off, laughing a little. She ceased talking, an apologetic look still present on her face. "Don't worry about it. I'm gay, yes." He figured there was no harm in telling the girl this. "However, Finn isn't my boyfriend. He's my... Well, our parents are dating."

Taking all this in, Joey seemed to calm down and nodded. "Oh. Okay. I'm just glad I didn't offend you."

"Of course not," Kurt said, kindly. "In fact I was just surprised that you were talking so casually about homosexuality. It seemed like you didn't have a problem with it."

"I don't!" she replied quickly. "My brother..."

There it was again, Joey trailing off and looking afraid that she had given out too much information. Kurt wondered if she was always like this, scared of what she was saying. Even though he wasn't one for physical contact, he reached across the table and gave her hand a gentle tap. "I understand."

So her brother, he assumed she meant Blaine, was gay too. Kurt wondered if he was openly gay or in the closet. Judging by how Joey talked about him, he couldn't really figure it out. He may have guessed the latter but surely Joey couldn't be that open and carelessly throwing about information like _that._ Instead of overthinking the situation, he drew back his hand as Finn returned to the table and handed Joey her cookie.

"Thanks," she said and immediately began rummaging in her bag for change. Finn stopped her.

"No need. It's on me."

Joey shook her head. "No, no, let me pay. That wouldn't be fair."

"Relax," Finn chuckled. "I'm not going to let you pay for a stupid cookie."

Instead of arguing, Joey's shoulders slumped in defeat and she let out a sigh, the guilty look not leaving her face as she nibbled on the snack. Kurt felt bad for her. She seemed so unsure of her actions and words and it appeared as if she wasn't used to people acting nice to her, yet she was such a sweet person and the fact that she had no problem with gay people just gave her brownie points.

"Hey, you like skateboarding?" Finn's voice snapped Kurt out of his thoughts and he looked at him, confused. However, Finn wasn't looking at Kurt. He was more focused on Joey's bag and Kurt noticed why. A skateboard shaped keyring dangled in between a Superman one and one shaped like a sunflower.

Joey brightened up at once, grinning excitedly. "I love skateboarding!"

Finn nodded. "That's cool. You being a girl and all." There he went again.

Thankfully, Joey didn't seem to be insulted. "I'm not really a typical girl. I prefer skateboarding over dancing and comics over romance novels."

Kurt could tell that this girl was climbing higher and higher on Finn's list of 'Favourite People'. "That's awesome!" his bear of a friend exclaimed. He was surprised that Finn wasn't already dragging Joey off to some church to proclaim their wedding vows.

Joey blushed and looked down, swallowing the last bite of her cookie and playing with a loose thread on her hoodie. Clearly she wasn't used to praise and attention of the positive variety.

Suddenly, _Carry on my Wayward Son_ began playing, causing both Kurt and Finn to jump a little. Joey hurriedly reached into her pocket and brought out her cell phone, where the music was coming from and flipped it open, pressing it to her ear.

"Hey, Dad." The smiled had now gone from her face and so had the happy glow it had only a moment ago.

"I'm sorry, I'm in the cafe, I didn't realise I was taking so long." her blue eyes darted to Kurt and Finn and both of them averted their eyes, attempting to look like they weren't listening to the one-sided conversation.

"I'll be there in a minute. I'm sorry. Bye."

She closed her phone and stood up, wiping some spare crumbs from her cookie off her hoodie. She smiled at the two boys, shoving her phone back into her pocket. "I have to go," she informed them, as if they hadn't already gathered that. "My dad was wondering where I was."

"Everything okay?" Kurt asked, a little concerned at the sudden change in Joey's mood.

"Fine," she said, a little too quickly. "I just better be on my way. Thanks for the cookie, Finn. It was good seeing you guys."

Both of them nodded and Kurt stood. "Do you need me to talk you back?" He didn't miss the way her eyes widened ever so slightly before she shook her head. "No, no, it's okay. I know where to go."

She chewed on her lip and glanced at the pair of them again. "Will I see you guys around?" Kurt smiled at the hopeful tone in her voice.

"Of course," he reassured her. After all, he doubted that the doctors would be too keen on letting his father out any time soon. They would probably want to keep an eye on him before he was discharged.

"Great," she smiled, although it didn't really meet her eyes. Then with a final 'goodbye' she set off, at a rather quick pace, towards the exit of the cafeteria.

Kurt sat back down in his chair and finished off his coffee. "She was pretty nice, huh?" he said to Finn.

Finn nodded, enthusiastically. "Yeah, she was really cool. Plus, she liked comics so obviously that made her kinda awesome."

With an eyeroll, Kurt turned away from Finn and picked up his empty coffee cup and put it in the bin when Finn's voice sounded again.

"Dude, Joey left her bag," he said to Kurt. Looking back at the table, Kurt saw he was right. There was no missing the mound of keyrings on the bag that lay abandoned at the end of the table. In her haste to leave, Joey must have forgotten to lift it.

Picking it up, he slung it on his shoulder. "She said her brother was in the same ward as my dad. We could go give it to her the now."

With Finn's agreement, the two of them walked out of the cafeteria and down the corridors, back in the direction that they had first came.

Burt's room was the first one in the ward so they stopped at that and peered in the window. There was only one doctor there with Burt and Carole but they didn't look like they were talking about anything medical. The three of them were laughing, even Burt who looked a lot better, if a little tired. The sight sent Kurt's heart soaring. It looked like his dad was already on the road to recovery.

"You go ahead," he told Finn. "I'll just drop this off to Joey."

"That's cool, dude," Finn said, noticing that Burt was turning on the room's TV. There must have been a game on.

Walking away, Kurt looked down at Joey's keyrings. There was so many. He noticed a basketball, a TARDIS and, oh, there was that photograph that he had first picked out upon seeing her. He brought it closer to his eyes and inspected it. It was Joey and an older boy, who didn't really look much like her. He had curly black hair and hazel eyes. The two of them were staring at the camera with wide eyes and their tongues hanging out of their mouths. Kurt wondered if this was her brother, Blaine. Well, he was good looking to say the least, even with a goofy pose like that.

He walked over to one of the nurses, who was sorting a stack of magazines on the reception desk. "Excuse me, could you tell me where Blaine Anderson's room is?" He prayed he had the name right.

"Down the corridor there, take a left and it's the second door on your right," she told Kurt, smiling at him. During the time he had spent here with his dad, Kurt had gotten to know a few of the nurses and they had all seemed to have taken a liking to him.

He memorised her instructions and followed them. Turning the corner that she had told him about, he spotted the door and walked towards it. He looked in the window, just to double check. He saw Joey sitting beside the bed, her hand holding onto someone else's. From where he was standing, Kurt couldn't see her facial expression. Kurt's eyes travelled up the bed and landed on its occupant.

It was definitely the guy from the picture, his curly hair made Kurt sure. However, Kurt couldn't see his hazel eyes. They were closed and rather swollen from what Kurt could see. He had a horrific cut on his temple with travelled down to his cheekbone. A few tubes were protruding from sporadic places and it made Kurt feel a little sick. That must have been one long flight of stairs. Poor Blaine.

"Can I help you?" a gruff voice asked from behind, causing Kurt to whirl around.

Facing him was a guy who Kurt at once recognised as Joey's father. He had the same blue eyes as her and brown hair. However, this guy's face seemed hardened and less friendly than Joey's. He frowned at Kurt, silently telling him that his presence was not welcomed.

"Oh, uh, hi. This is Joey's bag," he thrust the object forwards, causing a few of the keyrings to clink together. "She left it in the cafeteria."

The frown on the man's face deepened. "You were talking to Josephine?"

Josephine? It took Kurt a minute before he realised that the man was talking about Joey. Josephine must be her real name. It didn't really suit her though. 'Joey' seemed much better.

Kurt nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, our coffee orders got mixed up and, well, it's a long story." A weak smile appeared on Kurt's face; however Joey's father's face did not change. He took the bag off of Kurt with a little bit more force than was necessary, causing Kurt to stumble forward a little bit.

He stood up straight and tugged his jacket down. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your son, Mr Anderson," Kurt said, sincerely. Just because this guy wasn't going to polite, doesn't mean Kurt couldn't be.

His eyes narrowed. "What did Josephine tell you?"

Kurt was careful. He remembered the look on Joey's face when her father had called her. Something told him this guy wasn't the friendliest of people. He didn't want her to get into trouble. "Just that he fell down a flight of stairs."

Eventually, after Joey's father stared Kurt down, he nodded. "Right," he said. "You can go now. I don't believe you have any other business being here, am I right?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, sir. Goodbye."

The teenager then walked off, rounding the corner before stopping and leaning against the wall, his head reeling. Something about Joey and Blaine's father unnerved him. His attitude made Kurt suspicious.

Something was going on with the Andersons and Kurt wanted to find out more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Be My Escape (2/?)

**Rating: ** T for later chapters

**Disclaimer: **I am not fortunate enough to own_ Glee._

**Author's Note: ** Thank you guys so much for reading this. The response to the last chapter shocked me. I didn't expect that many reviews/alerts. I know this is a little late in updating but I had a lot of exams. Now, however, I'm free!

Kurt never thought that he would actually want to spend time in a hospital.

When his dad had taken his heart attack, all he had wanted was for him to wake up so they could get out that place. Now, he wasn't all that reluctant to spend time in hospital and it was all because of one person.

"Hey, Joey," he grinned, walking up behind the girl as she sat with her latte in the cafeteria. Clearly, until then, she had no idea that he was approaching, as she jumped about a foot in the air and spun around, her blue eyes wide open.

Upon seeing Kurt, she immediately relaxed and a sheepish smile appeared on her face. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Kurt apologised quickly, amusement clear in his eyes. He sat down, mocha in hand, in the seat across from her.

"It's okay," she reassured him. "You just caught me off guard, is all."

She looked different, Kurt noticed. She was a lot paler than last time he had talked to her (their first meeting) and her eyes looked red and puffy, like she had been crying. Immediately, Kurt was concerned.

"You okay?" he asked her.

Without looking at him, she nodded. "Yep, I'm good. What about you?"

That just confirmed that there was something wrong. However, Kurt was a private person and he knew that people asking what was wrong with you was a nuisance so he kept quiet, yet watched her movements suspiciously.

"How's your dad?" she piped up, now actually making eye contact with him.

He smiled at her. "Well, when he isn't complaining about the picture quality on the television or the standard of the food here, he's doing alright. He's only going to be in here for another week," he told her.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said. Then she paused. "I'll miss you when you're not here anymore."

Well, Kurt had never heard anyone say something like that to him. In glee club, no harsh words were said to him, yet people didn't go out of their way to make him feel just a little bit loved. They had their moments but, then again, they were his friends. Now, here was this girl who barely knew Kurt but told him that she would miss his company, knowing that he was gay, something which put people off of him immediately.

Kurt's heard swelled with affection. "Hey, Lima isn't that big a place, you know. We could still hang out sometime."

She raised her eyebrows, as if surprised that Kurt would actually want to spend time with her. "Actually, I live in Westerville. Only reason Blaine is here is because his case was too severe for our hospital," she explained.

Kurt didn't miss the look of sadness that flashed in her eyes when she talked about her brother's condition. She really cared about him.

"Well, give me your number," he suggested. "We can text or something."

Joey's brightened up, perceptibly. She reached for her napkin and brought a pen out of her bag, the same one with all the keyrings and started scribbling down digits on it before sliding it over to Kurt. "There you go," she grinned.

Kurt whipped out his cell phone and typed the number in, saving it under Joey's name before leaning back and drinking his coffee.

"How's Blaine?" he asked.

Joey shrugged. "Still the same. There's been no change."

"Well, at least nothing negative has happened. My dad was in the same condition all the time he was out," he said, trying the best he could to make his words sounds comforting, yet not patronising.

It seemed to do the trick. "I guess," she sighed, downing the last of her latte.

The way she held herself was still the same as last time. She stilled looked like she was unsure of herself, like she was about to burst out crying any second. He noticed that she was being a bit more careful with her words this time, not giving away too much information, especially about how she was feeling. She may have thought that she had convinced Kurt that she was feeling okay, but he saw right through her.

He noticed that she was wearing another hoody, oversized and too big for her. This time it was navy with loose threads sprouting from it in all directions. Kurt made a mental note to talk to her about her fashion choices when she was feeling better.

At that moment, her phone went off. Kurt recognised the song this time and frowned a little. Was this her father again? Would he want her to leave like he had the last time?

"Hey, Dad," Joey said quietly into the phone, confirming Kurt's guess. "Yeah, sure. I'll be round in two minutes."

Lowering his coffee cup as Joey snapped her phone shut, Kurt tilted his head to the side. "You have to go?" he guessed.

Joey gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry. My dad needs to head back to work so he'd like it if someone was with Blaine in case he wakes up." For some reason, it wasn't hope in her voice, it was caution.

Kurt nodded, understandingly. "Ah, I see," he said. "...Do you need some company?"

Joey hesitated at first and Kurt was worried he was crossing the line but then a warm smile crept onto her face. "I'd love some."

Kurt returned the smile and binned his empty coffee cup before he walked behind Joey as she led the way to Blaine's room.

As they passed Burt's room, Kurt took a quick look in the window to see how his dad was. He was in the same position as Kurt had left him in; remote in hand and an impatient look on his face. Clearly, the game he had been waiting for hadn't started yet.

He sped up slightly to keep up with Joey, who had quickened her pace. Maybe she was just anxious to see Blaine.

They reached Blaine's room and Kurt froze momentarily. Would their father still be there? He had been less than welcoming to Kurt when they had first met and he really didn't want to have a run-in with the intimidating man again.

Thankfully, he was nowhere to be seen, obviously having left before the two teenagers had arrived.

Joey was already over at Blaine's bed, sitting down in the chair beside it so Kurt quietly closed the door behind him and sat in another chair next to the window, a little way off.

He studied Joey carefully. She seemed so more relaxed than she had in the cafeteria. She sat dutifully by Blaine's bedside, her hand in his and a loving look on her face as she gazed down at her older brother. Besides adoration, Kurt could also see pain and sadness in her eyes, most probably due to her brother's condition.

"He's lucky to have you as a sister," he stated, breaking the silence.

Joey looked up and immediately her cheeks turned pink. "More like I'm lucky to have him as my brother," she said.

Kurt let out a short laugh. "You're probably just being modest," he told her, to which she merely giggled.

The smile disappeared from her face in an instant. "Kurt, do you think he'll get better?" she asked.

Well ... what could Kurt say to that? He could lie and tell her that he was 100% sure that her brother was going to be okay and he would be up and about in no time. He didn't know that for certain, though. Blaine could go either way, even though Kurt hoped his condition would improve, but it could also worsen. Even if he did wake up, what would the recovery process be like?

He hesitated before answering. "You're a smart girl, Joey," he began. "I think we both know that you just want reassurance. I can't give you that exactly, but I can tell you this: I think you're brother is a fighter, and if he is strong and fights hard enough, he'll pull through."

It wasn't until he stopped speaking that he noticed Joey was crying. Well, not crying as such, but she had tears in her eyes and a few of them had spilled over onto her cheeks. He went to move out of his chair but stopped halfway, again not sure of Joey's views on physical contact. If they were anything like Kurt's, he figured it was best to leave her alone.

He did lean forward though. "Joey, are you...?" he trailed off, realising that his question was pretty stupid. Of course she wasn't alright.

She sniffed and wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her hoody. "Sorry, lost it there for a second."

Kurt stayed silent, concern evident on his face.

She turned to him with a false smile, too bright and cheery for the girl that had been tearing up only a few seconds ago. "Tell me about yourself, Kurt," she suggested. "I don't really know all that much about you."

It was clear that she wanted a change of topic, so Kurt obliged. "Well, I'm Kurt Hummel, but you knew that," he smiled. "I'm a junior at McKinley High. You heard of it?" Joey nodded her head. "I like Broadway, fashion, baking and singing." He clasped his hands together, wondering what else there was. "I'm in my school's glee club," he added.

"Really?" Joey exclaimed. "So is Blaine. He's in the Dalton Academy Warblers."

This certainly caught Kurt's interest. "Oh?" he asked. He was tempted to press for more information but stopped himself, internally cursing his selfishness and slyness at taking advantage of the fact that his possible competition was in a hospital bed while his sister told Kurt all about him.

Joey nodded, her enthusiasm noticeably growing. "Yeah, he's actually kind of the star in it. And, believe me, that is totally not a biased view," she pointed out.

"Do you go to Dalton too?"

Joey shook her head. "No, Dalton is an all boys school. I go to Crawford, the sister school."

"Ah, I see," Kurt mused. "Boarder?"

"Yep, but right now I've taken a leave of absence, because of ... well, I think you know why," with her free hand, she gestured to Blaine. "I've brought back homework with me and stuff though so I don't fall behind or anything."

"I've always wanted to see what boarding school was like. I'm pretty sure that it would beat public school," he commented, crossing his legs.

"It does," Joey said straight away. Seeing the expression on Kurt's face she realised why he looked so confused. "I used to go to public school. Blaine came out though and ... the results weren't pretty. Dad put him in private school and he figured that I should be in one too."

So Blaine's father had, in a way, protected him from bullies (he figured that was what Joey had meant)? It sort of reassured him that the man he had met in the hallway just outside a few days ago wasn't completely menacing like Kurt had interpreted him to be.

"What about you, Joey?" he asked. "You know about me, what's the story behind you?"

Joey looked at him unsurely. "There's nothing really special about me," she said. "I'm a sophomore and I like the usual teenage stuff; movies, soccer, pizza, the works."

"I bet 'usual teenagers' aren't as cute as you though," Kurt teased, causing Joey to blush even harder. He was learning that she wasn't exactly used to compliments, yet she seemed pretty pleased when she received them, so Kurt made a pact with himself that he would try to boost her self-confidence as much as possible.

"Is Blaine your only sibling?" he asked, keeping the conversation going.

She nodded. "Yeah, and he's the only one I need. I love him but a girl can only take so much Katy Perry in her lifetime and Blaine doesn't really understand that."

Kurt burst out laughing. "Katy Perry? We all know that Lady Gaga is clearly queen."

Joey chuckled. "I'd love to see you and Blaine in a debate about this. I'm pretty sure that the results would be hilarious."

"Well, when he wakes up, I'll see what I can do," Kurt smirked then bit his lip. Did he just guarantee that Blaine would wake up? If Joey had caught onto that, she didn't act like it and instead, she just laughed along with Kurt. He could feel the tension in the room slowly disappear.

Joey looked behind her then turned back to Kurt. "There's some soda on the table over there. Do you want some?" she offered.

"Sure," Kurt replied, getting up and walking over to the small table Joey was talking about. She joined him at it and unscrewed the cap on the soda bottle. He picked out two plastic cups from a bag and placed them on the table so Joey could pour the soda in.

She picked up the bottle but it proved to be a little too heavy for her and she ended up spilling it all over the sleeve of her hoody. "Ack, crap!" she half yelled.

Kurt acted quickly and took the bottle off of her, shoving it onto the table before turning to Joey, trying to hide the amusement in his eyes.

He didn't hide it very well.

"It isn't funny!" she protested, although the corner of her mouth was twitching upwards.

"Of course it isn't," Kurt said, trying his best to keep maintain a pokerface. After two seconds, he snickered, earning him a mock glare from Joey. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I'll stop," he said, putting both his hands up in mock surrender to prove it.

Joey just rolled her eyes good-naturedly, then looked at her damp sleeve. "Well, this will need to dry," she stated the obvious before pulling the sweatshirt over her head. Underneath, she wore a loose, faded khaki t-shirt which almost made Kurt cringe but he kept his comments to himself.

However, his attention was no longer on her hideous choice of apparel. Kurt's eyes were focused on Joey's left elbow. Covering it was a large, ugly bruise, clearly fresh judging by the purplish colour of it. With wide eyes, Kurt's eyes travelled to Joey's face. She seemed preoccupied with the wet patch on her sleeve to notice his stare.

"Joey ... what did you do to your arm?" he asked, cautiously.

Her arm flew behind her back and her head snapped up as she twisted her body to face him. "Nothing. I fell."

To say that Kurt was alarmed would be an understatement. "Joey," he repeated, slowly. "What happened to your arm?"

"I fell," she insisted, desperation leaking into her tone. It was clearly a lie. "I'm a klutz, okay? I tripped in the driveway and bruised my elbow. No big deal."

"It looks like a pretty big deal to me!" Kurt told her, not believing her for one second.

"Drop it, Kurt."

Her tone shocked Kurt and it actually caused his eyes to widen. Her words had been so abrupt, a warning tone in them. They stared each other down for a few minutes before Joey blinked and turned her head away.

"I'm gonna take this to bathroom, put it under the hand dryer," she mumbled, before pushing past Kurt and hurrying out the room.

When she was gone, Kurt let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding and his hand met his forehead, rubbing his temple. What the hell was that all about?

He sat down in the chair that Joey had been sitting in and chewed the inside of his cheek. The events of the last three minutes made absolutely no sense to Kurt Hummel.

When he had first met Joey, she seemed like such a sweet girl, albeit a little shy and self-conscious, but she was friendly and nice and both Kurt and Finn had taken a liking to her, immediately.

Then she had forgotten her bag, adorably decorated with a jungle of multicoloured keyrings. Kurt had taken it to her, expecting to come across her sitting in the arms of her parents as they all sat beside Blaine's bed. Instead, he had came across a man who had been nothing like the mental image of Mr Anderson that Kurt had conjured up in his mind. To be honest, there had been something about the guy that had scared Kurt. He had unnerved him and made him suspicious about the lives of the Andersons family.

He had been curious and had wanted to find out more about the family but he decided that it was an invasion of privacy.

Then, he had saw Joey again in the cafeteria. Despite her slightly red eyes and almost bedraggled appearance, she was still the same friendly teenager that had introduced herself to him and his friend. They had talked about their everyday lives and had even laughed about a few things, such as her brother awful (in Kurt's opinion) taste in music.

And then five minutes ago, she had snapped. It was like pointing out the horrific looking bruise on her arm had awoken something inside of her. She had turned cold towards Kurt, completely unexpected. He also noted that she was a terrible liar. She had panicked when he had seen it and had immediately tried to cover up, failing miserably to do so. It was like she had something to hide.

Kurt knew that she _definitely_ had something to hide. Nobody got a bruise like that from a stumble. And they _certainly _didn't react like that if it had been such an innocent mistake. Something was definitely up and now Kurt was back to his original plan of finding out exactly what that was.

He imagined what other people would say if they knew what he was up to. Finn would probably be interested for a total time of 0.2 seconds, his dad and Carole would probably both scold him and tell him not to butt into other people's business like that, although he did have an inkling that if he told Carole about Joey's bruise, her motherly instincts would take over and she would be intrigued as well.

If he told Rachel then she would most likely want to be a part of solving the mystery behind the Andersons, declaring it to be the perfect piece of drama that she needed to keep herself entertained. Maybe Mercedes would—what was he doing?

Kurt sighed to himself. He couldn't tell anyone that he was trying to find out what was happening in a family he knew barely anything about, except that it consisted of a very tall father, a gay son and a daughter with a lack of fashion sense. If there was a mother figure, she had yet to make an appearance.

He stifled a groan as he pushed his head into his hands. This whole situation was all so confusing and he had managed to land himself in it. He couldn't walk away from it now.

Still, he didn't want to simply walk away from this puzzle, simply because it would be the easy thing to do. Joey had a bruise on her harm, meaning she had hurt herself or someone else had hurt her. Kurt was actually incredibly worried. He considered Joey to be his friend and in the short time that he had known her, he realised that he cared about her. She was too nice not to have that effect on him.

He just didn't understand why she had reacted like that when he had questioned her about the bruise. Why didn't she want him to know? Had someone told her not to tell anybody?

As his mind flashbacked to when he had first noticed it, he clearly remembered fear being evident in her eyes.

So maybe Kurt Hummel shouldn't delve into the lives of the Anderson clan, maybe he should let them be instead of being nosy and intrusive.

He was, however, going to find out why Joey Anderson was terrified that someone had saw a bruise on her elbow. Kurt didn't see that as being nosy or intrusive. He realised that any other sane person would do the same thing. Joey could be in some sort of trouble for all he knew. Kurt wanted to help her.

Whether she would allow him to help her or not was the ques—

"Who are you?"

Kurt's head snapped up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice and he looked towards the door, figuring it was probably a doctor or something. However, the doorway was empty, nobody standing there.

Slowly, Kurt turned his head to the right slightly, his heart beating wildly. He stopped as his eyes rested on the teenager in the bed. Half-open hazel eyes were looking right back at him.

"Blaine..." he breathed, his eyes widening as he jumped up and moved closer to the bed. "Oh my God, you're awake. Oh my God. I can't—I'm a friend of ... my name's Kurt Hu—"

"Where am I?" Blaine cut him off, a frantic look in his eyes. His voice sounded husky as if his throat was dry which Kurt understood it probably was.

"You're in hospital," he explained, his hands flying around for some reason. He reached over and pressed the button for the nurse to arrive. "I'm a friend of Joey's. She just went to the bathroom. You had an accident on some stairs, Joey said but you're awake now. Oh my God, you're awake. Don't worry, Joey will be back soon, it'll be okay."

What the hell was he saying? He was rambling on and on but he couldn't help himself. Shock and relief were coursing through him as he stared down at Blaine's confused features. He clearly didn't remember the accident but that was the case in most situations like this. The memory of coma victims were always a little foggy.

Kurt's eyes flew to the door, willing a nurse to hurry up and check on Blaine.

However, Kurt was not expecting Blaine's next two words and upon hearing them it felt like his heart had frozen and he held his breath, staring back down at the boy in the bed, his eyes wide, like he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Who's Joey?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Be My Escape (1/?)

**Rating: **T for later chapters

**Word Count:** 4,279

**Disclaimer: **No, I do not own _Glee._

**Author's Note: **Thank you all for your reviews for the last chapter. Meh, I still have no idea how long this fanfic is going to be, so bear with me.

"So, he doesn't remember anything?" Mercedes asked for clarification, slamming her locker door shut.

"No," Kurt responded, sadly shaking his head as he leaned his back against his own locker.

"That must suck for his sister, huh?" his best friend pointed out.

Kurt closed his eyes, trying to block out the memory of Joey's face when she returned from the bathroom to see her brother awake. She had been overjoyed but when she saw that he didn't recognise her ...

Immediately, Kurt snapped his eyes open, not wanting to relive that particular moment. "Yeah," he said, quietly.

The two of them walked off to glee club in silence, Kurt's mind still on the situation with the Anderson family.

He had left before Mr Anderson had returned from his work but now he wished he had stayed as support for Joey. She had looked so crushed learning that Blaine's head injuries had caused him to suffer from memory loss. He hadn't been able to remember anything about the accident, about who his family were or even who he was.

Until he got his memory back, Blaine Anderson didn't really exist.

Kurt and Mercedes walked into the choir room and sat down on their seats. The only other people there were Finn, Rachel, Santana and Artie.

"Hey, man," Finn called from his seat next to Rachel. "You heard from Joey?"

Kurt paused. The only person he had told about Blaine's condition was Mercedes, mainly because she was his best and most trusted friend and, although the girl loved gossip (which was probably a factor of why their relationship worked so well), he knew that she wouldn't tell anybody else.

Still, Finn had been there with Kurt when he had first met Joey. He knew that her brother was in a coma.

"Joey?" Rachel sat up, interested when the unfamiliar name was mentioned.

"Yeah," Finn angled himself so he was still facing Kurt but his head looked over his shoulder so he could reply to Rachel. "We met her in the hospital a few days ago."

"Her?" Now, Rachel looked more interested than she probably should be. Kurt almost laughed at her paranoia. What made it funnier was that Finn didn't quite pick up on it.

"Yeah, and she's actually pretty cool for a girl," Finn said, now turning completely to face Rachel. "She likes comics and skateboarding and stuff. She's really awesome!"

Rachel's face was a picture. She huffed slightly and done one of her signature hair flips and turned to speak to Santana, who looked less than thrilled at the idea of a conversation with Rachel Berry.

As Tina, Mike and Quinn entered the room, Kurt lowered his voice so only Finn and Mercedes could hear. "Blaine isn't doing too good right now so, therefore, Joey isn't feeling too great."

Finn looked like a puppy that had just been kicked. "Well, next time you see her, tell her I'm thinking about the both of them, okay?"

Touched by Finn's concern for their friend, Kurt nodded and shot him a smile. "I'll do that."

Everyone else filed into the classroom and eventually so did Mr Schuester.

"Bad news, guys," he announced, pulling up a stool and sitting down on it. "Puckerman's in juvi."

The whole club then erupted and Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes, sitting back in his chair as the complaints and groans of his fellow club members sounded throughout the room. Mr Schu began explaining something about how Puck had stolen his mom's car or something but, to be honest, Kurt wasn't really listening.

He pulled out his phone and saw that he had a text from Joey.

_Hey Kurt, could you come round to the hospital after school? –Joey_

While everyone else was still discussing Puck's delinquency, Kurt typed back a reply.

_Of course. – Kurt_

The calamity in the room had died down and Kurt looked up to see the new kid, Sam Evans, jog into the room with a wave. Kurt sat up a little straighter as he took in the appearance of the blonde boy.

He was ... _cute._

He caught Mercedes giving him a knowing smirk and rolled his eyes at her, before turning back to face the front of the classroom, just in time to see Finn pull Sam down to sit beside him and Rachel.

As Mr Schu began talking about the week's assignment, Kurt found himself studying Sam. First and foremost, his hair was _not _naturally that colour, that was for sure.

"Psst," he nudged Mercedes. "He's on team gay."

At the look Mercedes gave him, he launched into an explanation about how Sam clearly dyed his hair in a way the no straight boy ever would.

Clearly, Mercedes didn't agree with him and informed him that he was crazy.

Sighing to himself, Kurt crossed his legs as Mr Schu informed them that the winner of the upcoming duet competition would win a free dinner for two at Breadstix.

Kurt raised an eyebrow and looked down at Sam. Maybe the two of them could work together.

At the end of the lesson, Kurt walked out of the choir room and watched Sam as he walked to his locker. He took in a deep breath, plucking up all the courage he had and began walking towards him.

However, when he was halfway there, a vibration in his pocket stopped him and he pulled out his phone. Another text from Joey had arrived.

_Blaine's awake and talking. We're trying to see if he's remembered anything. You still coming? –Joey_

Pausing, Kurt looked up at Sam, still at his locker and then glanced back down at his phone. Letting out a defeated sigh, he shoved his phone in his bag and turned on his heel, walking back in the direction that he had came.

He got in the car and started the engine, driving towards Lima General. During the ride, he thought about Sam. So he was attractive and possible gay. Still, this could probably just be another fruitless chase of Kurt's that would end with him being heartbroken. He just really did not want another Finn scenario again so he decided that he wouldn't pursue Sam. Instead, he would watch him from afar until it was confirmed that he batted for Kurt's team.

Kurt pulled up outside the hospital and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder and taking his phone out, sending a quick text to Joey.

_I'm here. –Kurt_

He sent it and walked up the stairs to the ward where both Blaine and his dad were. As he did, he was stopped along the way by his father's doctor.

"Kurt, can I talk to you for minute?" Doctor Rogers.

Immediately, Kurt was concerned. "Is my dad okay?"

"He's fine, he's fine," Doctor Rogers reassured him, hurriedly. "In fact, he's more than fine. We think that he's ready to go home tomorrow."

Kurt gasped in delight. "Really?" he grinned, clasping his hands together with joy.

Doctor Rogers and nodded. "We'll keep him in for the night and if he's still looking good by tomorrow, you can take him home." With that, he gave a final smile to Kurt and walked off.

Kurt smiled as he made his way along to Blaine's room, overjoyed the news. However, he wiped the smile off his face, not wanting to rub it in Joey's face that his family member was well and hers wasn't. Not that he would purposefully rub it in but after Joey's previous mood change, he wasn't sure how she would interpret it.

He stopped in the doorway of Blaine's room and looked in. Joey, Blaine, Mr Anderson and a doctor were there. Blaine was sat up in his bed a few pillows behind him to support his back, his face still a little bruised and cut. He was the first to see Kurt. Catching his eye, he gave him a small smile and raised his hand in a half-wave.

From that, everyone else in the room was suddenly aware of Kurt's presence. The doctor gave him a polite nod, although he looked confused as to why he was here. Joey gave him a grateful, yet apologetic smile. Mr Anderson didn't look too thrilled to see him.

"This him?" he half-grunted, jerking his head in Kurt's direction, his question directed towards Blaine.

"Yes," Blaine answered, still looking at Kurt. "This is the guy that was there when I woke up."

Kurt was used to attention of both the positive and negative kind, but being scrutinized by Mr Anderson made him uncomfortable and he crossed his arms over his chest in a somewhat defensive position.

"I can leave ..." he said, uncertainly, wanting nothing more than to turn on his heel and run from the room, but Joey's eyes widened in alarm and she shook her head.

"No!" she jumped up and then bit her lip, probably surprised by her own rashness. "Uhh ... can I talk to you outside, Kurt?"

After another glance at the three men in the room, Kurt finally nodded and took a step back, out of the room. Joey followed him and was about to close the door when Mr Anderson's voice stopped her. "Leave it open," he commanded. Her hand rested on the door handle for a few seconds before she dropped it and moved out into the hallway to face Kurt.

"We're just trying to see if he can remember anything from before," she explained to Kurt, not making eye contact with him. "Because you were there when he woke up, we were wondering if you could help. It might jog his memory or something."

Although Kurt wasn't too sure that Joey's theory would work, he nodded. "Okay, no problem."

She smiled up at him, blue eyes meeting blue eyes finally. "Thanks, Kurt."

"So how's he doing so far?" Kurt asked, looking through the blinds of the window to see Blaine conversing with his doctor.

Joey shrugged. "He still doesn't remember any of us, but he's accepted that we're his family and that the reason he doesn't remember is because he had an accident."

"Will it wear off?"

"The doctors say that it should get better eventually. Apparently it isn't that uncommon."

Kurt nodded and looked down at Joey. "How are you dealing with it?"

Joey hesitated, her eyes darting back into the room before they returned to Kurt. "I'm just glad he's awake."

With that, she turned and walked back into the room, Kurt following her. He sat down on the chair next to the door as Joey returned to the seat she had been sitting in, in between Blaine's bed and where Mr Anderson was seating, his muscular arms folded over his chest and a steely glare on his face aimed at Kurt.

If there was a prize for the situation that had made Kurt feel the most uncomfortable, this would have won it hands down. He still didn't know what he had done to make Mr Anderson dislike him so much, though.

Another pair of eyes were on him, except their gaze wasn't so harsh. It was kinder. Kurt blushed a bit when he looked up to find Blaine staring at him. When he caught his eyes, Blaine didn't look the least bit apologetic for staring but he turned away, an amused smile playing on his lips.

"So, Blaine," the doctor began, a clipboard in his hand. "Can you tell us what happened when you woke up?"

Blaine nodded and answered easily. "I just opened my eyes and found myself here. I can't really remember what I was thinking, except from the fact that I had no clue where I was. Kurt was there and so I asked him who he was and where I was." Kurt's head shot up as his name was mentioned and he listened closely as Blaine recounted their first meeting.

"He said he was a friend of Joey's and kept muttering on about how he was glad I was okay," Blaine chuckled. At this, Kurt went even redder, causing Joey to smirk as well. "I didn't know who he was talking about though and he seemed kind of shocked by that." He turned to Joey. "Sorry, sis."

Kurt felt so bad for the girl. He knew Blaine was only calling her that because he had been told that she was his sibling, not because he knew that for a fact. Joey seemed overjoyed that Blaine had reverted back to calling her that, though and it hurt Kurt's heart.

"After that, the nurse came and then Joey returned soon after. That's when I realised something was wrong. She knew me but I didn't know her."

Kurt noticed that Joey was trying her hardest to look impassive. Her mouth was fixed in a straight line but he could see the pain in her eyes as she relived the memory. He could remember it too, seeing the shock and hurt in her eyes when her own brother didn't even recognise her.

The doctor finished writing on his clipboard then clicked his pen. "So that's all you remember? You don't remember anything from before the accident or even from when you were in your coma?"

Blaine shook his head.

"Alright, I think that'll be enough for today. It's clear that your accident has caused you to suffer from some memory loss. We'll keep you in until you regain some memories." With a quick nod to each of the Anderson and Kurt, the doctor left the room.

As soon as he did, Mr Anderson stood up. "Well, I've got to get back to work."

"Already?" Joey asked him.

"Yeah, and you've got homework to do," he told her.

"I can do it here ..." she suggested but clamped her mouth shut when Mr Anderson gave her a look. "Yes, sir."

Without so much as a goodbye to Blaine, Mr Anderson simply walked out of the room, not looking at Kurt as he did so. Joey paused at the foot of Blaine's bed and gave him a wry smile.

"Bye, Blaine," she said and walked away, her head down. She said a 'goodbye' to Kurt before she left too.

Left with only Blaine in the room, Kurt immediately felt uncomfortable. He was still a little taken aback at Joey and Mr Anderson's sudden departure. It was like Mr Anderson hadn't even wanted to be there. He had seemed all too eager to get back to his work.

There it was again; the lives of the Andersons confusing Kurt and making him suspicious.

"You look like you're about to burst a blood vessel, you're thinking so hard," a voice sounded and Kurt's head snapped up to find Blaine smirking at him.

"Oh, sorry," he squeaked, only causing Blaine's smirk to grow bigger.

"I figure we need some kind of proper introduction. I was a bit out of the loop when we first met," Blaine said, gesturing to the empty seat next to his bed that Joey had sat in. Kurt stood up and walked over to then perched on the edge of it.

"Relax," Blaine chuckled. "I don't bite."

Kurt offered him a smile in return before loosening up a little and sinking further back into the chair.

"I'm Blaine," the curly-haired boy said, reaching his unbandaged hand out.

"Kurt," the other boy introduced himself, shaking Blaine's hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"We've already met," Blaine pointed out with a smile. Damn, he had a _nice _smile.

"True," Kurt responded before letting go of Blaine's hand which he realised he had been holding onto for longer than necessary. Blaine didn't seem to mind too much, however.

"Joey's told me about you," said Blaine and Kurt internally winced. He knew that Joey wouldn't say anything bad about him but the thought of two people talking about him without his knowledge made him a little uneasy, most likely because he was used to so many people ridiculing him.

"Really?" he grimaced.

Blaine shot him another smile. Yep, he had a _really nice_ smile. "You don't have to look so scared," he reassured the blushing boy next to him. "She says that you're pretty awesome."

Kurt just shrugged modestly. "I'm not that awesome," he told Blaine to which the other boy shook his head.

"Really? She seemed quite persistent."

Desperate for a change of subject that didn't involve this good-looking boy saying nice things about him (he really didn't think his ego could take it), Kurt decided to move on. "Joey told me you were in glee club."

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "I am?"

Mentally, Kurt slapped himself on the forehead. "Sorry," he gushed. "I forgot that you can't-"

"It's okay," Blaine cut him off before looking at his hands. "Glee club, huh?"

Kurt leaned forward slightly. "Does that help you remember anything?"

Blaine let out a wistful sigh. "No," he answered. Then he turned to Kurt, his eyes bright. "Can I ask you questions about yourself? It might remind me of some things."

Deciding that it couldn't do any harm, Kurt nodded. "Sure."

"Okay," Blaine replied then began a quick fire stream of questions for Kurt.

"What school do you go to?" 

"McKinley High."

"Name of your best friend."

"Mercedes Jones."

"Any pets?"

Kurt wrinkled his nose. "My dad ended up killing my whole aquarium of goldfish after he forgot to change the water. We kind of gave up on the gig after that."

Blaine laughed loudly and didn't stop for a few minutes. "Okay, that is the funniest thing I've heard since I woke up," he choked out.

"There can't have been much competition then," Kurt joked.

Blaine shook his head. "Not really, it's actually been sort of morbid and depressing," he said, quietly.

Before the tension became too much, Blaine hurriedly carried on with his game.

"Favourite subject?"

"Does Glee Club count?"

"Absolutely. Favourite animal?"

"Cats."

"Original."

"What? Cats are nice!"

"Favourite colour?"

"Blue."

"Like your eyes." It was a statement not a question and Kurt looked up. Blaine was smiling at him, causing his cheeks to flush pink. "You have nice eyes," Blaine said, honestly, causing Kurt to duck his head.

"Next question," he mumbled.

Kurt head Blaine let out an amused noise before he carried on. "Favourite song?"

"_As Long As You're Mine _from _Wicked_," Kurt answered, immediately. He expected Blaine just to keep going on with his questions but he looked up and saw Blaine with a look of concentration on his face, staring down at the bed sheets.

"Blaine?" Kurt called, trying to snap the boy out of his daze.

Blaine didn't seem to hear him.

Kurt was a little worried. A crease had appeared on Blaine's forehead and he still had that expression of concentration. He opened his mouth slightly and what happened next was something that Kurt had not expected.

"_Kiss me too fiercely, hold me too tight_

_I need help believing you're with me tonight."_

Blaine was singing. He was singing Kurt's favourite song. Kurt's eyes widened as he listened to the melodic sound of Blaine's voice, quiet as it was, recite the lyrics to the Broadway tune.

"_My wildest dreaming could not foresee_

_Lying beside you, with you wanting me."_

Kurt's eyes were still wide as he listened to the breathtaking sound of Blaine singing. His voice got a little louder as he reached the chorus.

"_Just for this moment, as long as you're mine_

_I've lost all resistance, and crossed some borderline_

_And if it turns out, it's over too fast_

_I'll make every last moment last, _

_As long as you're mine..."_

Blaine opened his mouth to carry on the next verse but he paused, not remembering the lyrics. In order to help him, Kurt forgot about saving himself the humiliation of singing a part that wasn't really suited for his voice, and just went for it, singing the next bit.

"_Maybe I'm brainless, maybe I'm wise_

_But you've got me seeing through different eyes_

_Somehow I've fallen under your spell_

_And somehow I'm feeling, it's up that I fell..."_

Then Blaine joined in, grinning at Kurt as he did so, his eyes alight with excitement as he remembered the lyrics. The both of them sat in the hospital room, smiling at each other as they did so, without a care that the door was open and sang.

"_Every moment, as long as you're mine_

_I'll wake up my body and make up for lost time."_

Kurt sang his solo.

"_Say there's no future_

_for us as a pair..."_

Blaine joined in again and they both took the song to town.

"_And though I may know, I don't care..._

_Just for this moment, as long as you're mine_

_Come be how you want to, and see how bright we shine_

_Borrow the moonlight until it is through_

_And know I'll be here holding you_

_As long as you're mine..."_

As the song came to an end, Kurt was more than a little flushed and as he and Blaine's voices lingered on the last few notes, he looked away before closing his mouth. Although they hadn't exactly belted out the song, they were both a little breathless, Kurt moreso than Blaine.

After a few seconds, Kurt looked back up at Blaine and broke the silence. "You remembered the lyrics."

Blaine swallowed and nodded. "Yeah," he breathed. "My mom took me and Joey to see _Wicked_ one weekend."

Kurt gasped at Blaine's words. "You remember that?"

"I was nine, Joey was seven. We went to New York and it was on Broadway. After it, I was so overwhelmed. It was amazing."

"Do ... do you remember anything else?" he asked Blaine.

After a minute of hesitation, Blaine shook his head. "No," he admitted in a manner that was almost ashamed.

"That's okay," Kurt said, quickly. Without thinking he reached out and covered Blaine's hand with his own. "The fact that you remembered that says something." He then realised where his hand was and quickly withdrew it. Blaine hadn't even noticed, he was so immersed in his own thoughts.

In the silence that followed, Kurt plucked up the courage to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind for quite some time. "Where is your mom, Blaine?" he asked.

"She died when I was twelve," he said, simply. "Joey told me."

Kurt bit his lip, immediately regretting asking. "I'm sorry, I didn't—" He was stopped by Blaine shaking his head.

"Apart from that memory, I know nothing about her. You don't have to say sorry."

Kurt nodded, solemnly. So Blaine and Joey no longer had a mother. Did that explain why there seemed to be so little happiness in the Anderson family? Maybe they hadn't dealt with her death in the same way that Kurt and his dad his.

"My mom died when I was eight," he whispered, not meeting looking at Blaine. "It seems that we have a lot in common, what with that, glee club, we're both gay and—"

After realising what he had just said, Kurt's eyes widened in horror and he slapped his hand over his mouth. _Oh my God,_ he thought, cursing himself. _What if he can't remember that?_

By this point, Blaine was in a fit of laughter again. "Kurt, it's cool," he said in between laughs, most of his amusement caused by Kurt's reaction when what he had said had sunk in. "Joey told me that too."

Eventually, Kurt dropped his hand from his mouth. "Oh, okay, I'm sorry, I didn't think." He wasn't sure if Blaine heard him or not as the brown-eyed boy seemed too busy laughing. Kurt preoccupied himself with staring at his jeans, his cheeks hot with embarrassment.

It took him a few minutes for him to realise that Blaine was no longer laughing and he looked up to see Blaine watching him intently, a question in his eyes.

"Kurt, am I lucky that I don't remember my mom dying?"

The question surprised Kurt. He blinked and then chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "I don't know ... The memory of my mom's death is painful but it's part of who I am." He shrugged. "I do miss her though."

Blaine didn't answer; he just kept looking at Kurt. For some reason, Kurt didn't feel all that uncomfortable under his gaze like he would with most people.

A knocking on the door snapped them both out of their reverie. Kurt looked over to the door and saw one of the nurses standing there. "Visiting hours are almost over," she informed them, before walking off.

Turning back to Blaine, Kurt returned his bag to his shoulder. "I better be off," he sighed, almost reluctant to leave.

Blaine looked sort of sad at the news too, although Kurt convinced himself that it was only his imagination. "Alright," he smiled, sadly. "It really was nice meeting you."

Kurt smiled. "You too, Blaine."

He walked to the door but stopped just as he was about to leave. Turning around, he smirked a little. "Hey, Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time, I get to be Elphaba."

Blaine's face broke out into a grin. "Deal."

With a final wave, Kurt walked out of the room and along the corridor, finding himself smiling at the fact that Blaine had, in a way, agreed that there would be a 'next time'.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Be My Escape (4/?)

**Rating: **T for later chapters

**Word Count:** 3,781

**Disclaimer: **Basically, if I owned _Glee, _it would have to be renamed _The Klaine Show_.

**Author's Note: ** So, I don't want to make a big, rambling author's note, so I'll keep this short and sweet. I didn't really plan on continuing this (hence the HUUUGE delay) but I got a lot of reviews asking me if I could continue so...here I am, and I'll try my best to finish it. Sorry it's taken so long but I have had NO muse.

"Kurt, I'm pretty sure the pillow is plumped up enough," Burt stated, sighing in frustration as he watched his son beat the pillow for the tenth time since he was walked into the living room.

Kurt stepped back to admire his handiwork, oblivious to his father's patience lessening moreso by the second. He clasped his hands together and swivelled around to face Burt. "It's ready for you."

With a grunt, Burt sat down on the couch which had already looked pretty comfortable without Kurt messing around with it. "You don't need to make a fuss, Kurt," he said, tying his dressing gown.

With an indignant huff, Kurt walked off to the kitchen. "I was just trying to help."

He walked over to the stove and grabbed a ladle, spooning out some soup from the pot and putting it in a bowl before taking it through to the living room and putting it down on the table in front of his dad. "There," he said, still a little hurt that his previous efforts hadn't been appreciated.

After his dad muttered an unsatisfactory 'thanks', Kurt turned on his heel and walked out into the hallway, making his way upstairs. When he was about halfway up, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

He continued up the flight of stairs and walked into his bedroom, closing the door behind him then flopped backwards onto his bed, pulling his phone out his pocket to see who had text him.

It was an unknown number.

He unlocked his iPhone and read the message, a smile growing on his face as he did so.

_Hey you, Joey gave me your number. I hope that's okay and you don't think I'm some creepy stalker or something—Blaine._

A smile immediately appeared on Kurt's face. He wasn't sure why, but the thought of Blaine texting him just made him happy. Quickly, he tapped out a reply, after he saved Blaine's number.

_Hey (: No, it's not a problem. It's good to hear from you, actually. Are you feeling better?—Kurt._

Kurt hesitated before sending the text. Did it sound okay? Wait...why was he bothering about a text sounding alright? It was just to Blaine, a guy he had met only a few times, and only one of them had been when both of them were conscious.

A reply came soon after.

_Much better, thanks. Hey, can I ask you a favour?—Blaine_

A favour? What could Kurt possibly do for Blaine?

_Of course. Wait, I won't have to break the law, will I?—Kurt_

There was no harm in checking, right?

_No, nothing like that :P I was just wondering if maybe you could come to the hospital tomorrow? If you can, any chance you could bring your CD collection? Or your iPod, whatever is easiest.—Blaine_

Kurt was a little surprised at the request but he figured that Blaine was probably just bored and needed some entertainment. He couldn't help but be a little pleased that it was he who had been asked.

_Absolutely. See you tomorrow.—Kurt_

Kurt reached over for his iPod and slid the USB cable into it, making sure it was completely charged for tomorrow. His phone then buzzed with a reply.

_Can't wait!—Blaine_

If anyone asked him, Kurt would flat out deny it, but there had never been another text that had made him smile so much.

"Kurt?"

Swivelling around after closing his car door, Kurt found himself face to face with Joey. "Hey," he smiled at her.

"What are you doing here? Not that I'm not pleased to see you," she quickly added.

Kurt looked her over, noticing that her outfit was slightly brighter today. Her old ratty black hoody had now been replaced by a red one which looked newer and slightly less baggy. She still had her bag of a million keyrings slung over her shoulder and a questioning look on her face.

"Blaine asked me to come over," he explained. "He asked me to bring my iPod. Do you know why?"

Joey shook her head in answer.

"I guess he just wanted some entertainment," Kurt shrugged. "So are you just going in?"

His blue eyes scanned the parking lot to see if Joey had been accompanied by her father. She seemed to figure out what he was doing.

"No, I was just leaving. My dad's picking me up in five minutes," she explained, to which Kurt nodded. He wondered if he should wait with her until her dad arrived but she had other ideas.

"You should go get Blaine. The guy gets bored easily so he'll need some company," she smirked.

"Alright," Kurt said. "You'll be okay here though, right?"

This earned him an eyeroll from Joey who gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder. "Kurt, go," she urged him and he held his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, I'm going," he laughed. "See you soon."

He walked into the hospital, only this time he wasn't filled with a sense of anxiety like he had when his dad was the place. Even after his dad had woken up, Kurt had stilled been worried when walking into the hospital, just in case a doctor stopped him in the corridor and told him that something had went wrong.

This time, however, he felt more at ease and also, although he would never admit it, he was excited to see Blaine.

Reaching Blaine's room, he went to knock but peered in instead just in case Blaine wasn't there. He was though and the look on his face almost made Kurt laugh aloud.

He looked annoyed but in a comical way. His face was screwed up in disgust and he was pressing hard down on the buttons of the remote. Clearly he wasn't finding a channel that suited his preferences.

"Daytime television isn't your thing, I'm guessing?" Kurt commented as he strolled into the room causing Blaine's head to snap up. A grin appeared on his face when he saw Kurt.

"Hey!" he greeted him, brightly. Blaine went from being in a slouched position to sitting up straight, a goofy smile still on his face.

"Hey, yourself," Kurt replied, sitting down in the seat beside Blaine's bed. "How are you?"

"Better now that you're here," Blaine said without any hesitation.

Kurt swallowed. "Because I'm here? I'm not the best company around."

Blaine just shrugged. "Nah, you're actually great company. Everyone around here is all moody and morose except you. You actually smile."

This only caused Kurt to do exactly that until his cheeks were aching. Before he went red, he quickly changed the conversation. "So, uh, why did you want me to bring my iPod?"

Blaine shuffled himself into a more comfy position, on his side slightly, angling himself towards Kurt who had no objections.

"I was actually kind of hoping that if I heard a familiar song or something, it might jog my memory a little bit. Like _As Long As You're Mine _did," Blaine said, a little unsurely as if he was embarrassed by this request.

Kurt, however, thought it was a great idea. "That could work," he nodded then chewed on his lip before speaking again. "Why did you need my iPod? I mean, there's bound to be a radio around here somewhere."

The cheeky grin on Blaine's face was back. "Yeah, but you wouldn't be here," he said as nonchalantly as possible.

Before he turned beetroot, Kurt quickly began rummaging in his bag for his iPod and pulled it out, unwrapping his earphones from around it. "So, do you have speakers or something?" he asked, not making eye contact with Blaine.

"I have a docking station there," Blaine stated, jerking his thumb to his nightstand where a small docking station sat that Kurt hadn't realised was there.

He connected his iPod to it then pressed shuffle, praying that no embarrassing songs would begin playing.

The first song that began playing was _Here Comes The Sun _by the Beatles. Kurt smiled at the familiar tune. It was a song that he had listened to many a time when he had simply needed some cheering up. He turned to Blaine to see what his reaction to the song was.

A concentrated frown was on his face which didn't look too promising.

"Do you know this song, Blaine?" Kurt asked slowly, trying not to sound too patronising.

Blaine tilted his head to the side. "It...it sounds familiar but I can't...I can't..." Blaine let out a groan and dropped his head, his eyes closing.

Immediately, and without thinking, Kurt reached out and rested his hand on top of Blaine's. When his brain caught up with the rest of his body he realised that he might have been invading Blaine's personal space and was about to move away when Blaine's hand curled around his.

No, of course Kurt's heart rate did not just speed up at that.

"Nobody expects you to remember everything, Blaine," Kurt said. "Take it easy and don't strain yourself too much."

Blaine looked up, his hazel eyes now open and Kurt was alarmed to see that tears were shining in them. "I can't help it though, Kurt," he whispered and the other teenager's heart almost broke at the vulnerability in Blaine's voice. "It's not the fact that I can't remember a stupid song. It's the fact that...I've lived a whole life that I can't remember. I mean, I have friends at Dalton but I couldn't tell you a single one of their names. Apparently I'm a good student at Dalton but I can't even freaking remember what grade I got for my last math test. Then there's Joey... She's my sister but I don't remember her. There are some things I remember, like going to see _Wicked _with her and my mom but...she looks at me and all I can see is this hurt in her eyes and that kills me. I'm supposed to know who she is but I don't, yet she doesn't even push me to remember..."

A single tear rolled down Blaine's face and at that moment all Kurt wanted to do was wrap him in a hug, but he didn't. He knew that when he was upset, physical contact was completely off the cards. Perhaps, despite the current hand holding, Blaine was the same so Kurt didn't want to smother him in any way if he wasn't comfortable with it.

What Blaine did need though, was someone to talk to.

"Blaine..." he began slowly. "This isn't your fault. You had a bad fall and ended up here. I know it's frustrating but you'll get there. Just give it time. You can't push yourself because you'll only get stressed and then you'll never get anywhere. Joey understands that. That's why she doesn't say anything."

Blaine was quiet for a while before he gave Kurt's hand a quick squeeze. "I guess..." he whispered, a teary smile appearing on his face. "Thanks, Kurt."

Kurt returned the gesture and nodded. "No problem."

Blaine suddenly flushed, as if embarrassed by his previous rant. "Do you think...do you think we could play another song?" he asked.

Understanding that he wanted to change the subject as quickly as he could, Kurt nodded and pressed the button on his iPod for another song. He almost winced at the song that came up.

It really was a guilty pleasure of his.

"_You think I'm pretty without any make up on,_

_You think I'm funny when I tell the punchline wrong."_

Kurt almost groaned at this embarrassing choice of music. He never admitted to being a Katy Perry fan, mainly because it just didn't seem very...'Kurt'. He grimaced and when he didn't hear any gasps of recognition from Blaine, he moved to turn it off quickly.

Then he stopped as another voice sang in harmony with his iPod.

"_I know you get me, so I'll let my walls come down, down."_

Kurt stared at Blaine who was now singing along to the song, a happy and excited grin fixed on his face. Well, if Kurt had been hoping for a positive reaction, he got it although he never imagine he'd get one on this scale.

"_Before you me met, I was a wreck _

_But things were kinda heavy, you brought me to life_

_Now every February, you'll be my Valentine, Valentine..."_

Unlike last time, Kurt did not join in the song, instead choosing to let Blaine carry the song by himself. He seemed to be having no problem doing this as he continued to sing.

"_Let's go all the way tonight_

_No regrets, just love_

_We can dance, until we die_

_You and I, we'll be young forever."_

As he reached the chorus, Blaine's voice grew louder, his eyes closed and a smile on his face. Although the disappearance of the hazel orbs was not something that Kurt would have willingly chosen, it gave him a chance to...look at Blaine. His eyes roamed the tan skin, the strong jawline with a hint of stubble, the basically flawless features that dominated the face of one Blaine Anderson as he sang.

"_You make my feel like I'm living a teenage dream_

_The way you turn me on, I can't sleep_

_Let's run away and don't ever look back_

_Don't ever look back."_

Blaine didn't continue. Instead, he let out a satisfied sigh and blinked open his eyes, causing Kurt to quickly look down at his lap. He realised that he still had his hand in Blaine's but he didn't remove it. Instead, he continued to look down.

"I guess you know that one, huh?" he asked the curly headed boy.

"Yep..." the thoughtful tone in Blaine's voice made Kurt look up again. He noticed the small smile on the other boy's face and was about to ask if a certain memory came with the song but Blaine beat him to it.

"I think...the Warblers and I...we were going to sing this song soon. Just for an impromptu performance sort of thing. "

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "You mean...the glee club at your school is...kind of cool?" he asked, incredulously.

Blaine let out a short laugh. "The Warblers are like...rockstars." The smile on his face grew wider. "I remember...I remember one time there was a new kid. His name was Jeff. I remember he was shy and reserved—he had came to Dalton because he was bullied for being gay at his old school—" At this, Kurt grew even more interested. "—and he had heard about the Warblers. One of the other members, Nick, had heard him singing in the shower in the dorm they shared and kept badgering the council to let him audition to join. He had built the image of us up to Jeff so much that when we did ask him to join, the poor guy looked like he was about to faint."

Blaine was laughing now, a proper, genuine laugh and Kurt couldn't help but join in. It was just something that happened whenever Kurt was with Blaine. If the other boy was sad, Kurt felt like he wouldn't be able to smile again until the other boy did and if Blaine was happy, then Kurt was too.

"You remember that?" Kurt asked when he finished giggling.

Blaine nodded and looked at Kurt with a pleased expression on his face. "I think it's all coming back," he said, quietly but happily.

Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand. "I'm glad," he replied. And he honestly was.

For the next hour or so, they sat in that same position, holding hands and listening to different music that was on Kurt's iPod. Some brought back memories for Blaine such as 'La Vie Boheme' from the musical RENT which had led to Joey asking him what masturbation was when she was 11 and needing Blaine to give her 'The Talk' which he described as being one of the most uncomfortable things that he had ever done in his life. Kurt noticed the sadness in his eyes when he noted that he wished they had a mother figure to tell her about those things instead.

Certain songs also brought back some memories for Kurt and he winced when 'Pink Houses' came on. He didn't dare look at Blaine who was staring at him, mystified.

"...I didn't peg you as a John Mellencamp fan," he finally managed to say.

Kurt groaned and buried his head into his free hand. "Don't ask," he mumbled, knowing his face was bright red.

"Come on," Blaine whined in a way that reminded Kurt of a petulant five-year-old.

He sat up straight and shook his head, wildly. "Nope, not at all. Nope. Never."

Then he made the mistake of looking up at Blaine who was staring at him with wide, pleading, hazel eyes. Kurt thought he was going to faint.

"Hey, no fair," he managed to choke out. "You don't get to use the puppy dog eyes on me, mister!" As he said this, he made sure to avert his gaze and look anywhere but at Blaine.

He heard the other boy chuckle and lean back. "I'll get it out of you someday."

"Oh, I hope not," Kurt muttered. The memory of last year when he had tried to convince his dad he was straight still haunted him. He had dressed like a trucker, spent hours watching football and made out with Brittany. He was not ready to relive a time as embarrassing as that, especially not in front of Blaine.

His words only made Blaine laugh again. Something about the sound caused Kurt's heart to flutter a little...and it wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling.

However, just as quickly as he had began laughing, Blaine stopped and Kurt looked up in concern, wondering why that joyful sound had been cut short so abruptly. He saw Blaine staring into the space in front of him, his eyes looking slightly watery.

"Blaine?" Kurt called.

The other boy blinked and turned to Kurt. "I just want to remember what happened, Kurt...but what if I don't? What if I move on and there's a whole chunk of my life that I know nothing about? I need to know what happened to me...why I ended up in here."

"You will," Kurt blurted out, although he knew that he couldn't completely promise Blaine this. "Your memory is returning and, sooner or later, you'll remember what happened to you, Blaine. It'll all work out."

He held his breath as he waited for Blaine's reply. It took a few minutes but eventually, Blaine nodded. "Thank you, Kurt," he whispered.

"It's no problem," said Kurt, eagerly. He glanced to his iPod again and realised with a jolt that it was almost seven o'clock. He let out a sigh. "I better go..."

Blaine's eyes also darted to the look at the time. "Yeah," he said, sadly. "I wish you didn't have to."

There was no denying the warm feeling that spread throughout Kurt's body.

"It's okay," Blaine continued, probably mistaken Kurt's blush for a negative thing. "I know you need to get home."

"What if I come back tomorrow?" Kurt asked then winced at how desperate those words could be interpreted as.

However, Blaine's face lit up at that moment. "You will?" he grinned, brightly.

Kurt nodded, a grin on his face too. He was reminded again of how infectious Blaine's moods could be.

"Okay then," Blaine beamed. "I guess I'll see you then."

"Indeed," Kurt replied, before standing up and taking his iPod out of the docking station, shoving it in his bag before giving Blaine a small wave and beginning to walk out the door. When he was halfway across the room, Blaine called out to stop him. "Wait!"

Kurt turned around to look at his friend, curiously. What he didn't expect to see was Blaine smiling goofily at him with his arms outstretched. "Hug?" he asked.

_God, that boy was adorable._

With a disbelieving laugh, Kurt moved forwards and opened his arms, returning the hug Blaine gave him when he reached him. He didn't miss the way that they both held onto each other a little longer than necessary, both of them reluctant to let go. They had to eventually though.

"Goodbye, Blaine," Kurt said, making his way to the door again, his heart hammering in his chest, because a boy had hugged him. A boy had actually hugged him without freaking out or squirming away because they were afraid of him getting the wrong idea. It was an amazing feeling.

"Bye, Kurt."

When Kurt got home that night, all he could think about was the hug that he had shared with Blaine. It had just felt...right. They had fitted perfectly in each other's arms and Kurt knew that it wasn't only him that hadn't wanted to break away.

He knew he was attracted to Blaine, that was for sure. It was hard not to be because that boy was _fine as hell, _yet there was also the fact that Blaine was actually gay that stuck in Kurt's head. Say he did have a tiny crush on Blaine (hypothetically, of course) he would be reassured that things wouldn't turn out like they had with Finn, or even Sam (although he was still on the fence about him).

However, Blaine already had enough stress in his life at the moment. He didn't want to be bothered by Kurt. So, the other boy would just be a friend for him right now, just like he needed.

Kurt walked upstairs and flopped onto his bed ungracefully, a small smile still on his face as he thought of Blaine.

His phone buzzed beside him and he sat up immediately and grabbed it, his smile widening when he saw that it was from Blaine.

He opened it and read it. When he did, he froze. There were only two words on the screen but that was enough to make Kurt's eyes widen in shock.

He read the text over again and let out a shuddering breath when the words sank in.

What the text said, you ask?

_I remember._


End file.
